


Everlilies (HIATUS)

by cafeinthemoon93



Series: Star Wars - Millicent Series [3]
Category: Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Armitage Hux Has Issues, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Comfort, Comfort Food, Comfort Reading, F/M, Minor Original Character(s), Nice Armitage Hux, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Original First Order Character(s) (Star Wars) - Freeform, Original Male Character - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, POV Armitage Hux, POV Female Character, POV First Person, POV Male Character, POV Millicent the Officer, POV Multiple, POV Original Character, POV Original Female Character, POV Second Person, Pre-Canon, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Pre-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Pre-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Slow Burn, Starkiller (Star Wars) - Freeform, Starkiller Base, Tags May Change, The First Order (Star Wars) - Freeform, The First Order Sucks, Unnamed Lieutenant (Star Wars) - Freeform, Unnamed Original Character - Freeform, Unnamed Original Male Character - Freeform, unnamed male character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:00:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21937099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafeinthemoon93/pseuds/cafeinthemoon93
Summary: Months passed since young officer Millicent accepted to work to Armitage Hux. The progress in her abilities is undeniable, but she seems to struggle to conciliate his designations with other aspects of her life, and her health starts to take its toll. At the same time, her superior has his own plans to help the girl.STATUSPART I (PROLOGUE) - COMPLETEPART (II) - COMPLETEPART III (THIS ONE) - ONGOING
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Dopheld Mitaka, Armitage Hux/Millicent the Officer (OFC), Armitage Hux/Original Character(s), Armitage Hux/Original Female Character(s), Armitage Hux/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Star Wars - Millicent Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1378303
Kudos: 6





	1. Hurry

**Author's Note:**

> Here I go again, I simply can't stop! But well, why stopping when you can have so much fun? Here are some stuff you can consider before reading this part:
> 
> \- Though I marked this work with Graphic Depictions of Violence, the actual violent scene might not be as violent as this flag suggests when you'll read it. It all depends on your concept of graphic violence. Besides, I don't appreciate works with too blood/violence.
> 
> \- The chapters of this part of the series were first intended to be shorter than the previous part's, but there will be some long chapters here as well.
> 
> \- There will be fewer characters this time
> 
> \- Finally FINALLY we will see some progress in their relationship outside works and missions
> 
> \- After giving us some lessons on marketing and hairstyling, Hux will show us some of his abilities as a nurse in this one LOL
> 
> \- Hux might have a diary where he writes about his feelings and such... Just saying...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Millicent is on a mission to search for a file that technically doesn't exist. Besides the aparently illogical task she was given, the girl has to struggle with what seems to be just a headache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I felt Millicent's headache as I was writing this chapter. Sorry if you feel it too.

_“In my arms_

_She was so warm”_

_(Fever Ray, Concrete Walls)_

She was in a hurry.

Under the protection of the gloves that were given to her during a quick meet in a corridor at that morning, her fingers were running through the holo-keys as fast as her eyes were examining each detail that showed up before them.

In that room there was no living creature but her. It was darker than on the corridors, but the soft blue shade of the light system meeting the deep dark of the floor and the walls still lingered there. The occasional beep of a computer here and there close to the walls was the only thig to interrupt the silence inside that place; there was no other droid but a simple unity responsible for the sanitation, doing its job at a distance. A glimpse of red light from the devices would appear at the corners only to increase the tension of the task.

She was searching for an holo-picture. It’s not that she saw it before, but she would recognize it as soon as she put her eyes on it.

The existence of this holo-file was not attested through some physical tool as a computer or a datapad, but through a chain of deductions that would lead to the image in question, serving as an explanation for an inconsistence pointed by her superior days before sending her to the mission in which she now was involved.

“You remember what I told you, what might had happened”, he said just before dismissing her through the communication channel. “If things are as I think they are, the picture will be explicit in its meaning. It will not go unnoticed by you.”

His words, as clear and confident as a blaster shot, were all that kept her in her research after several minutes facing holo-screens in a dark room. Her eyes started to burn, and her fingers were getting tired of the constant typing.

She sighed.

In all the tasks that came before the current one, things have reached some point like that: she started to be afraid of not having too much to hold on to but what he transmitted. The search through the holo-screens by itself wouldn’t say anything; of what she was looking for, it seemed to be no trace. From a practical point of view, she was searching for something that might not even exist. Well, he did not say that it wouldn’t be traces, but he also didn’t make it clear that they would be there. He just said what to search, and where.

And now she was searching. And searching. And searching.

She remembered of her first missions as if they were given to her just a few days before, instead of all those months since her convocation.

They were difficult at the beginning: working alone with tools that could resume to an access code or ways to hide her fingerprints, as well as a restricted amount of information by which she could guide herself, was a nightmare. But sticking to the final goals and following the instructions she were given proved themselves the wisest decision: the consecutive successes of the tasks inside and out of the bridge seemed to convince her superior that choosing her to this service was very clever of him, and that it was worthy to invite her to observe the files and holo-maps with him at the end of the cycle. As time passed, she came to learn his lessons so well that she could give herself the benefit of relaxing as she worked. It always would be a complete explanation about what her work represented and at what point of the holo-map her mission fit. All she needed to do was do well on her part of the job. As long as she didn’t fail, he wouldn’t let her in the dark.

As long as she didn’t fail. It must but that what he got in mind when he said he wasn’t asking something easy from her.

She kept searching.

The image was supposed to show a Lieutenant – a man that she saw a few times at the bridge – at an unusual place during an inappropriate time of the regular cycle. Whatever he was doing there, or who he was talking to, it wasn’t important. The holo-picture would prove what needed to be proved: according to what she was told, this file was enough for this officer to be permanently removed from the service.

She stopped for a second, just enough to close and open her fingers, hoping to cease the stiffness that was now taking over them.

Now there were just a few places where to look: all files have been decrypted, and most of them were already reviewed. In a few more moments, the image should appear.

In a few more moments that felt like eternity.

She didn’t understand exactly how this man’s actions could represent a threat for the First Order, but her superior considered him as an obstacle, and he must be removed.

_This man must had done something that meant a direct threat against you, Sir. You were so emphatic when told me about him._

Many of the tasks designated by him were motivated by similar reasons. Rarely they were only in the interests of the First Order; there were always something that could be considered as a slight trait of audacity, not to say nonconformity, to her superior’s person. But in the end, it always proved itself more than it: all the data gathered by her would show something more serious, that required immediate action. In the next day, she would come back to the bridge to hear no whispers about the insubordinate.

The frequency with which it happened was another source of consternation for her.

_It must be so difficult for you, Sir, not having many friends here._

She interrupted the typing for the second time and turned her eyes from the holo-screens in order to let them rest. The impact of this movement caused her more discomfort than she expected: having faced the sudden darkness of the rest of the room and her eyes taking longer than normal to adjust to it, she noticed her head was hurting. The pain didn’t diminish, but the instants of rest helped her to keep going.

A few more moments typing, decrypting, analyzing…

And there it was.

The girl didn’t help smiling in relief. The holo-image was exactly like he descripted it: it said everything it had to say, in all its essential elements.

Again, he was right in his deductions. And again, she was right in trusting his judgement.

She felt her face flushing. It should not be so difficult to trust him. Not after all those months working beside him, being trained by him, acknowledging his methods, witnessing his successes one after the other. But it was something of her own, this difficulty; she was born with it and it shall die with her, even if she kept it solidified and contained in the depths of her soul.

Fortunately, he seemed not to notice. Or, most probably, he didn’t care. It was good that he would act that way; some things are better not to be put on the table.

She felt a strange heat spreading through her limbs, as if the oxygen flow had been restricted by some invisible obstacle. Her headache became worse, throbbing; she couldn’t keep staring at the holo-screens, not anymore.

It wasn’t the first time in that week that she felt like this during her work. But she’s been capable of containing it until now. There was no reason for things to be different now, right? She didn’t know what was wrong, but the task was almost finished, and it was all that mattered.

She looked at the chrono on one of the screens.

_Maybe I’m just hungry. I got late to my meals in this exact period the other times._

Ignoring the strikes of pain coming stronger now, she connected to the communication channel and started the transference of the holo-image. It didn’t take longer than a few moments, but it looked like she hadn’t this time: the nausea, which she’s been trying to contain since she noticed the headache, insisted on returning; she controlled it well until then, but now the sensation didn’t admit being contained, and its explosive returning made the girl turn her eyes away from the screen to her side, waiting for the inevitable vomit.

It did not come, however. She then remembered she didn’t put anything in her stomach since the first mealtime of the cycle.

The qualm diminished at the same time the last parts of the file were transferred. She disconnected the channel, deactivated the holo-screens and left the room before things got completely out her control.


	2. Fever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Millicent tries to act normal during the mission's report, but things only get worse. The General, despite being disappointed by what seemes to be nonsense to him, immediately takes measures to solve the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't judge Millie for her trust issues, because I'd probably do the same in her position: being a part of the First Order's crew and even then having your General to take care of you is anything but... surreal

Millicent was still trying to understand how she didn’t pass out before finishing her task.

It was some sort of sacrifice to stand there, in front of the table, without thinking about the possibility of falling upon it. Her blood pressure was still oscillating, her head was still hurting, but the pain diminished a bit, giving space to another sensation, equally unpleasant: a weight on her shoulders, accompanied by a strange fatigue.

She was on the same room she once imagined she would be reconditioned, several months ago. She has been there many times after that, and now the place didn’t intimidate her anymore: if there was a period of the cycle when she let herself feel the closest thing to safety that was possible on Starkiller’s grounds, it was when her superior sent her there. Whatever the contretemps she faced during her service, all of them would be promptly fixed when they met between those walls.

That particular time, she felt even more grateful to be there.

She didn’t have to wait more than a few minutes until she heard the hissing noise that indicated the door opening behind her. She struggled to get on her feet, turned to its direction. She opened her mouth, and the greeting sounded low even to her own ears.

\- Sir.

With his hands behind his back, his calculated steps, Armitage Hux approached and nodded without saying a word. His eyes, as blue as the mornings in that gelid planet, didn’t say much about the state of his reflections. There were days when he would prefer not to let himself to be examined, and that was one of those days.

Millicent didn’t waste her time with unfruitful trials of interpretation. When he was in this mood, it was impossible to say, for example, if he felt satisfied or exasperated with her usual greetings. The fact is that it was no longer a requirement the girl needed to fill: early in her training, Hux gave her permission to speak freely, which included dismissing some formalities in order to concentrate on the missions’ reports.

But she always made sure to follow the protocol. If she could not address to him as “Sir”, how would she do it?

\- Report – the General inquired.

The girl stood on her feet and spoke, countering the painful protests of her muscles, the unusual sensation that took over her stomach and the headache.

\- A success, Sir. The holo-image corresponds to your deductions in all of its details. I transferred it through the communication channel you transmitted and…

She didn’t finish the phrase. He frowned.

\- What happened?

She felt her legs weaken before she could answer. She leaned her hands on the table, lowering her head to it, trying to keep her blood pressure from falling further, but she wouldn’t be capable of maintaining her position for too long: suddenly she fell back on the chair where she was before. She leaned her elbows on her knees, her head between her palms. Things were worse than she expected.

Her half-closed eyes captured a glimpse of her superior’s reaction. He took off one of his gloves; with the hand that was still in the glove, he held her shoulder with tenderness and firmness, as if to make her raise her head. Hux put his bare hand on her forehead, then on the sides of her neck. Millicent shivered; his hand was cold. No. the entire room felt cold now. But what could have made the temperature so low?

The answer came when he moved his hand away and put his glove back.

\- You have a fever, Millie – it was the diagnosis; he brushed her hair behind her ear as he spoke; there was a note of concern in his voice – You are visibly exhausted. How long have you been feeling this way?

She fought to speak.

\- I’m not sure, Sir. Perhaps since yesterday.

Hux seemed to measure her answer.

\- Indeed, you looked a bit pale yesterday. Why did not you tell me? – his fingers left her hair and followed the shape of her face.

\- I didn’t want the work to be interrupted, Sir. Besides, I thought it was not but a temporary discomfort.

With his fingers under her chin, the General made Millicent look directly at him. The girl sensed the change in his tone.

\- Do you understand the it would not be just the mission that could suffer damage? – before she could reply, he added – Do not do this again. Understood?

She nodded with some difficulty. Her head was throbbing; she was not sure if she was able to leave that sit again. But she decided to try. Holding on the table, she managed to be on her feet – it was more than she expected – then turned to him.

\- I’m so sorry, Sir. I didn’t want to...

\- Shhh – he softened his manners; passing an arm around her, he made a brief stroke on her face – Let’s put some order in this now.

He took a small droid from his coat’s pocket. It was something tiny, rounded, each part built under the First Order’s standards: its surface was black, clean, opaque; brief reddish sparks oscillated in what should be its front side.

The General made some adjusts on the droid’s upper side and gave it to the girl.

\- Leave the room, put it on the floor and follow it. Enter where he enters, and do not leave the place until I come to see you. If you need orientation or assistance, there will be droids at your service.

He put his fingers on her chin and made her approach in order to kiss her temple.

\- Tell the droids to prepare a proper meal for you, then take some rest. You will be examined by a medical droid. The sooner we take care of this, the better.

\- Yes, Sir.

She left his presence and followed the droid, that hurried down through the long corridor.


	3. Chambers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The headache only gets worse and the girl does her best to stand on her feet and follow the droid to the medical bay... Or to somewhere else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this chapter is shorter than normal, but what happens here says all...

The two plates of the door separated from each other with a cutting noise when the droid stretched what seemed a thin arm coming out from its front and typed a code in the side panel. It slipped through the opening in what could be some kind of calm steps if it was an organic creature with legs.

With her head throbbing in pain, Millicent followed through the door, without thinking of what she would find on the other side of it. The door shut at her back, and she sighed.

Little by little, she realized what kind of place she was sent to.

The lights were of a bluish shade as all the others she used to see in the Base, but those ones distinguished from them by the soothing effect on the observer’s eyes, obtained less through their low intensity than their distribution across the place, descending from the corners of the ceiling, not directly from up above. The walls and the ceiling, which were also dark, absorbed any exceeding light more easily than any of the Base’s corridors. This didn’t kill the girl’s headache but made her efforts to keep her eyes open less painful.

The place was spacious, but all its sides seemed to be put on good use. At first sight, Millicent couldn’t identify all the objects around her, but they appeared to be in proper position, as if few things mattered but practicality and time saving.

The weakness she felt in her limbs made it difficult to keep her head up. When she lowered her eyes, a new discovery was made: instead of black flat plates as a floor, she found some kind of dark carpet. It explained why she didn’t hear her own steps or the droid’s sliding after crossing the door.

She looked around, intrigued. The room didn’t house just objects: there was also some furniture, like a bed in some place at her left, and a table at her right, a sofa close to it, and other stuff. She was not in a nursery as she imagined. She must have realized it just by the path she followed to get there: that was not the usual way to the medical bay. Besides, there was no one but her and the droid at that place. Then occurred to her that it wasn’t even a room. It was too large to be just that.

That was a place where one could work if it pleased them, or rest without distractions or interruptions. That was the perfect place for one to be sheltered. Or to live in.

She was in someone’s chambers.

_His chambers._

The exhaustion she has been restraining since her arrival came back as soon as she realized it.

The sofa was the closest thing she could reach before falling. Sitting on it, she held her head between her hands and stand like this for several minutes, until she felt strong enough to change her position. When she did it, it was to recline herself, with her feet down and her head on the back of the furniture, her arms crossed in front of her body, slightly inclined to the right.

The tiny droid was still close, reaffirming its presence with occasional beeps, but Millicent ignored it. The beeps disappeared as she’s gone in a deep sleep.


	4. Asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux takes an unusual break from the service to take care of the sick girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hux POV finally! This is one of my favorite chapters since I started to write this series. Though it might seem a bit weird to have your General staring at you as you sleep, I tried to write it as pure and delicate as possible, because all the intentions involved were pure (I'm not asking you to believe me, but it it what it is lol). This is probably the first time he lets himself see her not as his officer, but only as an human being, which I suppose doesn't happen everyday when it comes to Hux.  
> Well, I hope you enjoy ;)

A few more steps and Hux reached his chambers’ door.

His fingers typed a password on the side panel and the black plate in front of him was separated in two to give him passage. He found himself wishing he had told the girl he would come to see her as soon as possible. But the promise would turn out to be useless: that week was busier than usual, and it was not over yet.

_And here I am, taking a break out of the normal period in the cycle._

But there wasn’t much he could do about it, otherwise she would only see him many hours after the end of the cycle, and that wouldn’t be good: he told her not to leave the place until he came to meet her and she, he knew it, would obey even if it meant harming herself.

The scene he found when he first entered the chambers was not unexpected at all: jut ahead, on the sofa he kept close to the datapad table, Millicent was sleeping. Her position was far from comfortable: her feet, still in the boots, were not upon the sofa but suspended, while her legs were bent, slightly turned to the right, as her whole body. Her head was leaning on the backrest, but it seemed to be about to slip upon the sofa’s arm. Her arms were crossed in front of her body as if the cold caused by the fever were present with the same intensity as before, when she was awake.

Hux walked toward her.

He stopped before the girl and looked at her for a moment. She didn’t move. He stretched one hand and, with his fingers, made a delicate caress on her face, which ended as a stroke in her hair, now disheveled. Again, there was no reaction. The closest thing from this was the movement her body made to indicate how heavy was her breathing: her sleep was deep; she wouldn’t wake up anytime soon.

That must have been the first place Millicent went to when she arrived, and where she decided to stay. He looked around and didn’t see any sign that the droids passed through there: the only droid visible was that small one that accompanied her there, still emitting its beeps close to her feet. That could only mean that there has been no service request of any sort.

Hux sighed as he deactivated the small droid. Despite her condition, the girl fell asleep with nothing in her stomach, contrary to the instructions she received.

A second look at her direction, however, prevented him from feeling exasperated.

She was paler than he thought to be possible. On her face, the signs of exhaustion were more than evident; it was so weird that it hasn’t be brought to light by anyone who met her during the cycle. If she was sleeping in that position since she came, it was because she did not find enough strength to move.

He took off his gloves and let them on the datapad table; then came back to her and, after some seconds trying to figure out the best way to do it without waking her up, he took her in his arms.

Hux had no problems lifting her up from her place: even for a girl so skinny, Millicent was impressively light. He didn’t rule out of the possibility that she had lost weight because of the sickness, if it was present for a considerable time: she told him the symptoms started to manifest yesterday, but the sickness, which had settled first, must had caused harm before being noticed.

Her weightlessness was not the most impressive thing, though.

If it was first possible to be sure that she was made of something too delicate for rough hands, whether in her physical form or in her mental structure, the idea has never seemed so true as it was now. The asleep girl, who had her head leaning on his left shoulder, her arms still crossed in her lap, her legs bent, held by his right arm, was oblivious to her own fragility; it was like she could dissolve in case of being held in the wrong manner.

_Yes, touch her with less than delicacy and she will fall apart, with no ways to recovery._

He carried her to his bed and lay her down there. He smirked: she didn’t fall apart during the path, nor at its end. He left her turned to the right, just as he found her on the sofa. Millicent didn’t move; her breath’s rhythm didn’t change. She would sleep for a long time.

And if she was supposed to spend so much time lying down, her conditions must be as comfortable as possible.

Holding the girl’s nape in his palm, he lifted her head in order to untangle her hair. Her curls untied themselves as he separated them with his fingers, spreading through the pillow. With the task completed, he laid her back in her place.

Her uniform’s collar, with its rigid shape around her neck, made it even more difficult to breath for someone who was already tired. So, with the same care he had with her hair, the General unbuttoned her coat and took it off her, leaving her with just the piece wore under the primary clothing.

He folded the coat and left it close to her feet. Millicent, by the way, must have hesitated to take off her boots, or she was too tired to do so. So Hux did it for her: untying them, he took them off and put them on the floor, by the bed.

Standing there, his hands behind his back, he took time observing her. He smiled, satisfied with his own work: the girl might be sick, but the improvement in her circumstances were clear. Without the collar’s restriction, it was way easier for her to breathe. Her limbs seemed to finally relax without the tightness of the coat’s fabric. With her hair untied, the headache would be less intense when she woke up.

He took a step toward the headboard to take a closer look. Seeing her like this, so quiet, would bring the same advantages found in the analysis of an holoimage, but with the addition of realism as a reward.

Her pallor was not just because of the already known circumstances of the sickness or the time she spent away from natural light. Her skin would have that tone, he noticed, no matter the place she was raised in; desert planets, with their unpleasing proximity to their suns, were perhaps the only exception.

The bulk caused by the uniform’s shape was not enough to hide the fact that the girl was skinny, but now that much of her body was visible with nothing but the secondary clothing, it was just astonishing that one could have the same size as Millicent.

Without the conservative collar to hide most of it, it was visible how long her neck was. The fineness of its contour would follow toward her collarbone, which skin was as pale as the rest of her body; its salience would overcome and show through the fabric of the secondary pieces, thin and tender, nothing like the primary ones’. Her shoulders, hidden by the blouse, looked narrower than they probably were; her thin arms were covered by the piece’s sleeves, but it was clear that they shared the delicate trait one could find in her whole appearance.

Even now, the surprise was not as great as the one he had when he saw what came beyond that: contrasting her tiny ribs and waist, the girl’s hips were prominent, an impression accentuated by the puffy pants. It was impossible to figure out the exact appearance of her legs, but there were no doubts that they were thin. Her feet, tiny as expected, were laid together, bent in an involuntary manner.

An idea occurred to him.

What would she do if she woke up and found him there, standing beside the bed, looking at her? What would she say? It was easier to imagine what she would do, indeed, for the turmoil would precede any verbal response. She would stare at him, and then look at herself and, not finding the primary piece of her uniform, her face would blush, and she would cross her arms before her body, as if she was naked.

_Naked... Or exposed..._

It didn’t take much to make someone like Millicent feel exposed.

So, that was how she always felt while spending her nights in her bed at the lodge? Probably. Because this was exactly how she seemed to feel at the bridge, during the cycle, among her colleagues. That was how she appeared to be, months ago, when she confronted an impertinent officer. And when she had her first private conversation with her superior… As well as at the night the deal between them was sealed.

She lived exposed. She fought to keep anyone at distance, as if a casual approaching could kill her. As if her skin was tender to the point it could be ripped off at first touch. From his spot, Hux could even imagine this happening.

He stretched his left hand. He hesitated, closing it, the joints so tight they turned white. He took a breath and carried on. With the back of his hand, he touched her face. From there, his fingers made a slow stroke in her hair, leaving them behind her ear.

He moved his hand away, took off his greatcoat and put it upon her, as a blanket. It was appropriate that Millicent could count on some sort of protection when it came her time to wake up. It wouldn’t be pleasing to see her feeling exposed.

Walking away from the bed, he called a server droid and asked for something hot to drink.


End file.
